Former Eagle is flying solo at Indian Ranch

As an ex-Eagle, Don Felder has had concerns when performing new solo material about whether it is going to fly.

“The real challenge is to take some of the new songs, put them in a show, and cross my fingers,” Felder said. “I’m really pleasantly surprised how much the audience enjoyed and liked the songs.”

But when Felder appears as a guest on Peter Frampton’s “Guitar Circus” at Indian Ranch in Webster on Sunday he will be checking in with some Eagles hits, including “Hotel California,” which he wrote the music for and provided the distinctive guitar passages that helped define the song, and “Life in the Fast Lane.” However, he’ll also likely play “Wash Away,” a single from his new solo album (and only his second since 1983), “Road to Forever.”

It’s Frampton’s show, of course, and Felder sounded like he was looking forward to being part of the circus during a recent interview before he joined up on the tour for six road dates, including Indian Ranch.

British vocalist, guitarist, songwriter and producer Frampton is having several special guests (including B.B. King) pop in on his tour as it runs stateside through August before crossing the pond to Europe.

“I remember when (Frampton’s ) ‘Comes Alive!’ came out. I sat down and listened to it and loved it,” Felder said of the album that included the hit singles “Show Me The Way,” “Baby I Love Your Way” and “Do You Feel.”

Felder had yet to actually meet Frampton prior to joining the circus, but said they have both been aware of each other, and he has been told that they are quite similar personalities. They are “guitar geeks,” Felder said, with the same kind of sense of humor. “So I’m looking forward to meeting him personally. Plus, he’s a Brit, so how bad can he be?”

The 65-year-old Felder evidently knows and likes England, with visits over the years, and the same can be said of his familiarity with Boston, even remembering the address of the basement apartment he lived in for a period in 1971 — 342 Commonwealth Ave.

Originally from Gainesville, Fla., he was a self-taught musician who had his first band at the age of 15. The Continentals also included Stephen Stills.

But in 1971 Felder was still finding his way. He said he would work in a recording studio in Dorchester from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., then make his way to a restaurant in Cambridge to play guitar until 9 p.m., after which he was in a band playing at night spots until 2 in the morning. “So I was playing non-stop,” Felder said.

The next year he moved to California. Felder had known Bernie Leadon, a founder of The Eagles, for some time, and in 1974 Felder was asked by the group to add slide guitar to their song “Good Day in Hell.” The following day he was invited to join the band.

As he might have put it in “Hotel California,” the experience would prove to be heaven and hell. There were hits and star status, a hiatus, a revival (resulting in the 1994 album “Hell Freezes Over”), and then in 2001, Felder was fired from the Eagles. There would be lawsuits. Around this time, Felder was also divorced from his wife of 29 years.

Felder’s 2008 book, “Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974–2001),” a New York Times bestseller, describes his often tumultuous relationships with Eagles members and co-founders Glenn Frey and Don Henley.

The writing of the book was a gradual process, Felder said. With the collapse of his marriage and acrimonious departure from the Eagles, “All of the identities I had adopted, all of that was stripped away from me.”

He started doing meditation, and also would jot down his thoughts on a legal pad after a session was over. A lot of the thoughts turned into recollections of the Eagles. One day his new fiancée started reading them. “She said, ‘Wow, this would make a very interesting book’ ”

As the book (with co-writer Wendy Holden) came to fruition, Felder found himself writing songs again and venturing back to the recording studio.

“It was a dual cathartic process for me,” Felder said.

Felder’s relationship with Frey and Henley could be described as ongoing frost. They don’t talk.

Such things are possible. He said he has achieved a nice amicability with his ex-wife. They agreed to carry their friendship forward “We’ve been able to resolve that really wonderfully. We share. It’s a very healthy relationship for us both.”

Felder said has he tried to reach out that way to Frey and Henley. “The only response I get is from lawyers.”

Regarding the “History of the Eagles” documentary that recently aired on the Showtime cable channel, Felder said “I was quite shocked when I saw the anger” demonstrated by Frey and Henley about his departure.

“I prefer to think back about what a great experience it was. My hatchet is buried.”

The release of “Road to Forever” last year was the culmination of writing a lot of new songs. Felder said he whittled the list down to 16, and then the album consists of the 12 best. A number of friends are guest performers on the album, including Stills, David Crosby and Graham Nash.

“If I find really wonderful people in my life I try to continue those relationships throughout my life,” Felder said.

The music is definitely guitar-driven and Southern Californian. “It’s me. I really can’t change the way I sound.”

His previous and first solo album was “Airborne” in 1983.

Is such a gap perhaps surprising?

“I was surprised it took so long to do two recordings, too,” Felder said. “When you’re involved with the Eagles it’s kind of an all-encompassing universe. You eat and sleep Eagles business.”

However, recording “Road to Forever” was “a liberating experience for me.”